The present invention relates to Behind-the-Ear (“BTE”) or On-the-Ear (“OTE”) hearing aid devices. It will be appreciated that BTE/OTE hearing aid devices are placed in a manner such that the majority of the device sits on top of, or behind, the ear of the wearer. Such a placement is convenient for the wearer, and allows close proximity between the electronic portions of the BTE/OTE hearing aid device and the ear canal. However, such a placement exposes the electronic portions of a BTE/OTE hearing aid to moisture, dirt, sweat, and other elements that remain the main cause of damage or failure of all hearing devices. While improvements to digital processing, humidity resistant printed circuit flex boards and plastic fusion technology for sealing BTE/OTE hearing aid cases has improved resistance to these elements, BTE/OTE hearing aid devices are still susceptible to damage from the elements, including moisture intrusion. Such susceptible areas in new devices include the battery compartment/contacts, the ribbon cable programming slots and contacts, the programming socket, the push button memory switch, direct audio input (“DAI”) connections, and dual direction microphone ports.
In an attempt to prevent moisture infiltration into these susceptible areas, devices and covers to seal or protect the OTE/BTE hearing aid devices have been created. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,234 to Butler discloses a flexible cover that must be stretched, for example with an expansion tool, to allow a hearing aid to be slipped into it, and then requires that the flexible cover be unrolled to remove the hearing aid. It will be appreciated that such a cover does not allow ready access to many portions of the hearing aid device, and difficulty in removing and/or re-applying such a cover is likely to prevent a wearer from either accessing the portions of the hearing aid device under the cover, which may prevent routine maintenance and fine tuning from being performed by the wearer. Further, when such a cover does not allow ready accessibility to the hearing aid device, such a cover is likely not to be replaced once it is removed, thereby losing any advantages of its tight fitting nature to repel moisture. Other attempts to solve the problem include U.S. Publication No 2004/0196996 that disclose hard covers for behind-the-ear hearing aids that are removable and “attractive”, but which do not fully encapsulate the hearing aid to effectively protect against moisture infiltration. Likewise, U.S. Publication No 2008/0292124 discloses a rigid shield intended to preclude moisture from causing corrosion to the hearing aid by essentially acting as an umbrella that prevents rain or other falling debris from falling directly on an OTE/BTE hearing aid device. However, such a hard umbrella-like cover is obtrusive and still does not encapsulate the moisture prone areas of an OTE/BTE hearing aid device, thereby exposing those susceptible areas to moisture infiltration. As such, a protective cover that overcomes the shortcomings of the abovementioned art would be greatly appreciated.